The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1887-04-08
y Jess.
BY H,RIDER F(AceATlD,
EatRoret.@Nns solOn,oHsmures ssks'Ete.
CHAPTER III.
MR.. FRANK MULLER.


MR.. FRANK MULLER.
John Mel woke carly next morning, feeling
as sore and stiff as though he had been well
beaten and then strapped up tight in horse
| girths. He made shift, however, to dress
himself, and then, with tho help Of stick,
| limped through the French windows that
opened from his room on to tho veranda and
surveyed the scene before him. 1t was a de-
lightful spot At the back Of the house was
! the steep, bowlder strewn face of the fiat
| topped hill that curved round OH each side,
embosoming a great slope of green, in the lap
of which the house was placed The house
itself was solidly built of brown stone, and,
| with the exception of the wagon shed and
other outhouses, which were rooted with gal
vanized iron that shone and gistened in the
rays of the morning sun in way that would
have made an eagle blink, was covered with
rich brown thatch. All along its front rain a
wide veranda, up tho trellis work Of which
green vines and blooming creepers trailed
pleasantly, and beyond was the broad car
riage drive of red soil, bordered with bushy
orange trees laden with odorous flowers and
green and golden fruit On the farther side
of the orange trees were the gardens, fenced
in with low walls of rough stone, and the
orchard full of standard fruit trees, and
beyond these again the oxen and ostrich
kraals, the latter full of long necked birds.
To the right of the house grew thriving
plantations of blue gum and black waffle,
and to the left was broad stretch OF cult
waited lands, lying so that they could be irri-
gated for winter crops by means of water led
from the great spring that gushed from the
mountain side high above the house and gave
its name of Mooifontein to the place.
All these and many more things John Mel
saw as he looked out from the veranda at
Mooifontein, but, for the moment at any
rate, they were lost in the wild and wonderful
beauty of the panorama that rolled away for
miles and miles at his feet, till it was ended
by the mighty range of the Drakensberg to
the left, tipped here and there with snow,
and by the dim and vast horizon of the SWELL
ing Transvaal plains to the right and far in
front of him. 1t was beautiful sight, and
one to make the blood run in mans veins and
his heart beat happily because he was alive
to see it. Mile upon mile of grass clothed
veldt beneath bending and ripping like
corn field in the quick breath of the morning,
space upon space of deep blue sky overhead
with ne'er cloud to dim it, and the swift
rush of the wind between. Then to the left
there impressive to look on and conducive to
solemn thoughts, the mountains rear their
crests against the sky, and, crowned with the
gathered SHOWS of the centuries whose monl-
ments they are, from aeon to econ gaze majes- |
ideally out over the wide plains and the |
ephemeral, ant like races that'tread them, and |
while they endure think themselves the mas |
5ers of their little world. And over all
plain and flashing stream-the |
glorious light of the African sun and the
pirit of life moving now as it once moved
lpon the darkening waters.
John stood and gazed at the untamed
beauty of the scene in his mind comparing it
o many cultivated views that he had known,
md coming to the conclusion that, however
desirable the presence of civilized man might
,e in the world, it could not be said that his
operations really added to its beauty. For
he old line, Mature unadorned adorned the !
nost," still remains true in more senses than
me- Presently his reflections were inter-
upted by the step Of Silas Croft, which, not
his age cnd bent frame, still
rang firm crough-a.ld he turned to greet
him.
aWeu, Capt. Mel" said the old man, 4np
llreadyl 1t looks wei il you mean to take !
o farming. Yes, it's pretty view, and
pretty place, ttou well, made it. Twenty
i've years ago l rode up here and saw this
pot. Look, you see that rock there behind
ne house, slept under it and woke at sun
Use and looked out at this beautiful view and
t the great veldt lit was all alive with game
hem, and l said to myself, 'Silas, for five
nd twenty years have you wandered about
his great country, and now you are getting
ired of it; you've never seen fairer spot
han this or healthier; now be q wise man
nd stop here And SO I did. / bought
900 morgen 5000 acres, more or less, for
;l0 down and a case of gin, and I
ct to work to make this place, and you
GO l have made it. Ay, it has grown
nder my hand, every stone and tree of it,
nd you know what that means in O new
ountry. But one way and another I have
one it, and now have got too old to manage
!, and that's how l came to give out that
wanted a partner, as old Snow told you down
n Durham You see, told Snow it must be